On Tuesday (June 11), the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series held its first points-paying race at Iowa Speedway. Fittingly, it was an Iowa native who won the day.
Steven Wilson, a resident of Iowa City, Iowa, and a University of Iowa student, took the lead late with a bump-and-run move on Graham Bowlin and then held on through an overtime restart for his series-leading third win of the 2024 season.
“I just really wanted that one,” Wilson said on the Sunoco Post Race Report. “I got the Hawkeye gear on to rep The Hawkeye State.”
Parker White took home the runner-up spot, and Bowlin settled for third after leading the most laps.
“I don’t know what I could’ve done differently,” Bowlin said afterwards. “I drove a pretty good race. I passed [Wilson] on the outside cleanly, and then he just made a little contact in my left rear.”
Wyatt Tinsley and Zack Novak completed the top five with finishes of fourth and fifth, respectively.
TONIGHT’S ACTION
The eNCCiS’ first trip to Iowa Speedway featured the return of the heat racing format introduced earlier this season at Richmond Raceway.
Drivers who qualified in odd-numbered spots ran in heat 1 to determine inside row positions. Then, drivers qualifying in even-numbered spots hit the track for heat two to claim their position on the outside row for the feature race. Furthermore, the top-10 finishers in each heat race earned series points, with the heat winners receiving 10 points and then going down one-point increments to one point for 10th.
HEAT 1
The first heat came and went with no incidents throughout the pack. Wilson earned the pole as the fastest car in single-car qualifying, and he quickly cleared outside polesitter White for the lead. Wilson stayed up front for all 30 laps to secure the heat win, the pole for the feature race, and the 10 points that went with it.
The top four starters were also the top four finishers, with White about a half-second back in second, followed by Donovan Strauss in third and Ryan Luza in fourth. Novak completed the top five.
“I felt pretty good to be honest,” Wilson said after the first heat race. “I was just kind of cruising for about 20 or so laps just to keep the gap at a couple of a tenths just so I wasn’t over abusing the tires compared to them.”
HEAT 2
Like in heat one, the polesitter quickly seized control of the race as Bowlin took the lead off the start. Unlike the first heat, there was a significant early incident. On lap two, the Tony Kannan eSports teammates Kollin Keister and Vicente Salas both spun out on the backstretch. Though they both avoided damage, the race stayed green due to the caution-free format for the heats. Salas and Keister finished in the final two spots—19th and 20th—respectively.
While there was a little more movement in the mid-pack than heat one, Bowlin led all 30 laps to capture the checkered flag for heat two. Tinsley placed second, Matt Bussa finished third, followed by Michael Cosey Jr. and Jordy Lopez rounding out the top five.
“We’re just going to be racing hard trying to get clean air,” Bowlin said looking ahead to the feature. “Track position is going to be really big.”
FEATURE RACE
Wilson got a good jump on the initial start, clearing Bowlin for the early lead. Later on lap one, Luza spun on the frontstretch and hit the inside pit wall, but the race stayed green.
On lap 18, Wilson found himself in an unfamiliar situation, losing the lead to Bowlin. Bowlin then built up his lead to seven-tenths of a second over Wilson as the race passed the halfway point.
The race stayed clean until 24 laps to go, when Kaden Honeycutt in the No. 8 after contact with the No. 3 of Jonathon Dulaney, finally bringing out the first caution of the evening. On pit road, the top-15 drivers took two right-side tires, with Bowlin maintaining the lead and White leapfrogging Wilson for second. Tucker Minter was the first car on four tires in 16th.
Bowlin led the field back to green with 18 laps left, but a big wreck in turn two triggered by a Dulaney spin brought the caution back out that same lap. Wilson passed White for second just before the field went back under yellow.
The field restarted single-file with 13 laps remaining. One lap later, Wilson dove to the inside of Bowlin but could not complete the pass. Wilson continued to stalk Bowlin for the lead, with White on Wilson’s rear bumper as well.
With four laps to go, Wilson got into the rear bumper of Bowlin, moving him up the racetrack. On the next lap, Wilson cleared Bowlin for the lead just as Timmy Holmes spun out after contact with Malik Ray to bring out the third caution of the day and force eNASCAR overtime.
In overtime, Wilson got a great restart on the inside to clear for the lead and took the white flag. White dived into the last corner to try to catch Wilson, but he could not quite get to the rear bumper as Wilson grabbed the checkered flag.
POINT STANDINGS (FOUR RACES LEFT IN REGULAR SEASON)
| Steven Wilson | 3 Wins |
| Vicente Salas | 1 Win |
| Bobby Zalenski | 1 Win |
| Dylan Duval | 1 Win |
| Garrett Lowe | 1 Win |
| Wyatt Tinsley | 1 Win |
| Malik Ray | 1 Win |
| Parker White | +39 |
| Nick Ottinger | +33 |
| Casey Kirwan | +14 |
| Tucker Minter | -14 |
| Kaden Honeycutt | -21 |
| Kollin Keister | -36 |
NEXT UP
The drivers of the eNCCiS will look to make some noise in the Music City when the series returns to Nashville Superspeedway on Tuesday, June 25th. Race coverage starts at 7:30 p.m. with Countdown to Green, followed by the green flag for 100 laps shortly after 8 p.m. on enascar.com/live, youtube.com/iracingofficial, and twitch.tv/iracing.
About the author
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.
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